April 2007

Actually, make that the “Very Bad Ideas” file. Our personal preference is to ignore such people and things (which is what we’ve been doing until now). But several of you have emailed us about this incident, which has been covered in the MSM; so interest in it is obviously high. Here’s what one source had […]

* Just don’t do it. If law enforcement officials in formerly oppressed Eastern European nations are on the case, then maybe we should set a good example. [Ceskenoviny.cz ] * My dad told me that in his day, hazing meant newbies got their balls painted blue. Painting someone’s privates is gross alright — but not […]

Litigation finance is a funding tool many companies are considering to help cover the fees and expenses related to major legal claims. We at Lake Whillans Litigation Finance have compiled a list of questions to help you determine if your client is a candidate for litigation finance.

Apparently Sullivan & Cromwell is no longer the only Biglaw shop paying a $50,000 clerkship bonus. According to multiple sources, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett — which in January kicked off the latest round of base salary increases for associates — has followed suit. If S&C were the only member of the $50K club, competitor firms […]

Remember our post from last week, hinting at the possibility that false affidavits were created in the Aaron Charney / Sullivan & Cromwell litigation? Well, a few more details — or allegations, at least — are drifting in. Check out this order by Justice Bernard Fried: Second page, after the jump.

Our March Madness contest, an NCAA-esque tournament for the title of America’s coolest law school, is now over. Congratulations to the very deserving winner: UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF LAW!!! In the final round, UVA went up against Columbia. It wasn’t even close: After the jump, a few pieces of evidence in support of UVA’s […]

We’re getting underway again, with the testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Some random audience member just shouted out: “Hi Senator Kyl!” 2:39: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who missed much of the morning session due to a funeral, is leading off the afternoon questioning. He reads a brief introductory statement […]

As spring’s warm breezes waft away the winter chill, even stuffy legal-types are feeling the urge to merge. LEWW has been getting all kinds of STDs from lawyers lately (Save The Dates—sheesh, people!), and we’re exercising our clicking finger for the Great Place-Settings Mass Purchase of ’07. Speaking of that, now that registration with Williams-Sonoma […]

We’re picking up with where we left off, in our liveblogging of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. 10:50: Sen. Herb. Kohl is REALLY going after AGAG. He cites poll data showing that approximately half of the American public wants Gonzales to resign. Kohl is in essence asking: Why are you […]

Here are the results of the various reader polls we conducted concerning Adriana Dominguez, the Brooklyn Law School student who appeared nude in a video for Playboy TV: These results make sense to us. Dominguez’s participation in the Playboy really has no bearing upon her character and fitness, with respect to her bar admission. It […]

We’re liveblogging Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s desperate fight for his political life testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is just getting underway. Our commentary will be added continuously to this post (until we eventually migrate to a new post). So just refresh your browser for the latest. 9:35: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), SJC Chairman, […]

* Here’s the partial-birth abortion opinion, if anybody missed it yesterday. [U.S. Supreme Court (PDF)] * And, in what I like to call “the other opinion issued by the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday”, the Court found that an attempted burglary in Florida is a “violent felony” for the purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act. […]

Here’s a bizarre fact pattern to get your day started right. From the Massachusetts Lawyer Weekly: A criminal assault-and-battery complaint has been issued against attorney Stephen T. Kunian, a partner at the Boston law firm of Eckert, Seamans, Cherin, Mellott, for an incident in which he allegedly forced open the jacket of a woman during […]

* The headline screams “Britney!” But, in fact, this plaintiff was not wearing too-long jeans and fleeing the press — he was tasered. [Houston Chronicle] * In my college days, this kind of activity was confined to private study booths known as “weenie bins.” We respected the books. [AP via Yahoo! News] * Are royalties […]

Because she needs all the help she can get these days. Backlash and insurrection against New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse, the long reigning queen of the Supreme Court press corps, continue to grow. For years, the courts construed 40 U.S.C. 6134 — which forbids “loud, threatening, or abusive language in the Supreme Court Building” […]

There was much speculation about where former White House counsel Harriet Miers, of the ill-fated Supreme Court nomination, would wind up. Would Miers oversee the George W. Bush Presidential Library at her alma mater, SMU? Would she be nominated to the Fifth Circuit? Would she launch a new line of high-end eye make-up? The suspense […]

Former Justice Department official Monica Goodling isn’t the only appealing female who’s hiring lawyers these days. Yet another damsel in distress, who has also been in the headlines lately, has obtained legal representation for herself. Remember Adriana Dominguez, the Brooklyn Law School student who made a nude video for Playboy TV? If you email Ms. […]

Are you a Biglaw associate who left the office early last night, relying upon your trusty Blackberry to keep you posted about what was going on back at work? If so, your reliance was misplaced. From the NYT: Technical problems at Research in Motion cut off wireless e-mail service to millions of users of its […]

If you ask former Supreme Court clerks to name the three or four smartest justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg routinely makes the list. Former SCOTUS clerks on both sides of the aisle praise Justice Ginsburg for her intellect. She’s also regularly mentioned as one of the most “self-sufficient” justices (i.e., a justice who could still do […]